It didn’t seem to matter exactly how long the segments were.
Bury one end about knee-deep in the sand or dirt, so the log is securely anchored and immovable.Find a log about eight-to-12-inches in diameter.The melting pitch will spread the flames down the saw channels. Once the cuts are made, the top is packed with pine pitch and lit. But he couldn’t narrow down the country of origin, so I’m calling it a “Scandinavian log candle.” The torches are very popular at winter events in the Scandinavian countries, he said, because they provide warmth and light. In camp, we had a Swiss ski instructor, and he was very familiar with the log-torch concept. It didn’t take me long at all to make a candle. There was a chainsaw in our camp, along with unlimited firewood logs from blowdowns of Ponderosa and Lodgepole pines. The log is prepared by cutting lengthways with a chainsaw, he said, for about 18 inches. The base doesn’t heat up, so the fire won’t melt down through the snow and put itself out. The idea, he said, is to make a controllable fire that provides warmth and light. “It’s a Swedish candle,” he commented, while poking pine pitch into the saw cuts.
He had already done some work with a chainsaw, cutting six pie-shaped cuts about 18 inches lengthwise into the end of the log. I was camped along a popular lake in Central Oregon and noticed a man at a campsite working on a four-foot long log. These three Scandinavian log candles will provide light, warmth and a cooking area for several hours.